Thank you for the compliments. I will message you directly through the site.

Concrete screws. Allow some wiggle room in your brackets and use a big washer.

I'm not certain this would be the best for a patio table, unless it's a covered patio. My experience with outdoor furniture is there is just no way of keeping the sun from fading wood over time. You can get sealers that are meant for prevent fading, but it will still fade over time. And the humidity changes outdoors will probably cause issues between the joints. I would say if you are looking for an outdoor table just go with all concrete or use a more stable material than wood for your inset.

I haven't had any cracking in the actual wood, just the epoxy on the top. I finished the two different tables differently. The coffee table, that I think turned out better, I used a standard masonry sealer, like you would use on your patio. The kitchen table I actually put a layer of the epoxy over the entire surface because I still had a bit of a lip that you could feel between the concrete and the wood, so this smoothed that out. The epoxy said it was supposed to remain somewhat flexible, but it did end up cracking at the joint between the concrete and the wood. It still doesn't look terrible, but I notice it and it bugs me.

The color comes from Quikrete liquid pigment, the color is charcoal. Just mix in the amount specified on the bottle. It is a liquid, but it is a pretty thick liquid, so shake it up really well and after you pour it out add some water to the bottle and shake and pour again to make sure you get all the pigment out of the bottle.

Thank you. I would add a sealer. If you don't seal you still run the risk of it absorbing some liquids and seeing salt stains and stuff like that. You really won't need to polish much, the sealer actually has a bit of a thickness to it, almost like a varnish.

Thank you very much, that's quite the compliment. I hope you do get out there and do it. I'll let Mike respond to his thoughts on the syrup. I don't want to put words in his mouth, and I'm sure he'll have some nonsensical bumblings that I just can't capture.

That is an excellent question. And you are correct, I did forget to mention the finishing of the concrete. I actually did two different finishes on the two different tables. The joint between the concrete and wood on the coffee table turned out really well, so I just used some wax and buffed that into the concrete. This worked well. The dining table had those spots where I had to grind down the concrete, and to make the whole thing flush I put a coat of the epoxy over the entire tabletop and sides. Doing this filled in the low spots and made a smooth surface, but I don't like it as much as the wax finish. It makes the whole thing a little more "fakey" because you can't really feel the concrete, you are feeling the epoxy. I'm not sure if that makes sense or if anyone el...

That is an excellent question. And you are correct, I did forget to mention the finishing of the concrete. I actually did two different finishes on the two different tables. The joint between the concrete and wood on the coffee table turned out really well, so I just used some wax and buffed that into the concrete. This worked well. The dining table had those spots where I had to grind down the concrete, and to make the whole thing flush I put a coat of the epoxy over the entire tabletop and sides. Doing this filled in the low spots and made a smooth surface, but I don't like it as much as the wax finish. It makes the whole thing a little more "fakey" because you can't really feel the concrete, you are feeling the epoxy. I'm not sure if that makes sense or if anyone else even cares, but it's a big downside to me. It will also be much harder to make any repairs should something happen. The epoxy is able to flex with the exp/cont of the wood, but it is already very milky along the wood/concrete joint where it has been expanding, so I may end up sanding all of the epoxy off and going the wax route. Probably not though, I've got too many more projects to do before I ever get to that. So if you can, just go with a wax or concrete sealer on the concrete, don't try to make a single coat of epoxy.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. I did not use any silicone to prevent the concrete from oozing onto the wood. There was a small amount of concrete the oozed under onto the wood, but since the wood was already finished with polyurethane the concrete milk couldn't really adhere to it, so I was basically able to just wipe it off. In regards to your question about where to get a slab, I'm not sure where you're from but what we call a "nursery" around my neck of the woods is where they grow trees for transplanting, not milling. If you're referring to a what I would call a lumber mill I would say that is absolutely a great place to get a slab cut.

The angle grinder certainly would chew up the wood pretty easily, but I only used the grinder on the bottom, so I didn't really care if I messed up the wood at all. The top was smooth enough from the melamine form that the angle grinder wasn't necessary.

Thank you. I don't have pictures at the moment, but I just drilled holes through the frame then attached it with bolts and washers, making sure the bolts were smaller than the holes to allow the top to expand/contract.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. I have holes drilled up through the frames and bolts go through these holes into the top. The holes are over-drilled so that there is room for the bolts to slide with expansion/contraction.

Thanks, Chris. That's an excellent question about using it as an outdoor table, and I'm going to be honest with you, I don't really know. I will tell you what I do know and have experienced. The concrete portion would hold up fine outdoors, I made a couple 2' x 2' test concrete pieces when I was experimenting with color and edge treatments and they are now serving as end tables on my patio. I treated them with a masonry sealer just so it didn't get any uneven staining from any spills (I'm a spiller), and they have held up great. The wood on the other hand I don't think would fare so well. I have built plenty of outdoor wood products, so with sanded and finished surfaces, and I have never had good luck keeping surfaces looking good over the long haul. I know there are "outdoo...

Thanks, Chris. That's an excellent question about using it as an outdoor table, and I'm going to be honest with you, I don't really know. I will tell you what I do know and have experienced. The concrete portion would hold up fine outdoors, I made a couple 2' x 2' test concrete pieces when I was experimenting with color and edge treatments and they are now serving as end tables on my patio. I treated them with a masonry sealer just so it didn't get any uneven staining from any spills (I'm a spiller), and they have held up great. The wood on the other hand I don't think would fare so well. I have built plenty of outdoor wood products, so with sanded and finished surfaces, and I have never had good luck keeping surfaces looking good over the long haul. I know there are "outdoor" varnishes that protect from discoloring and UV, but I personally don't think they really work, not for more than a year or two anyway. Long story short, I think you could have good results with an all concrete table, or maybe use some sort of metal or other stable material as your highlight (actually that just gave me a neat idea as I'm typing this). Let me know if you do try it and have good results.

I wasn't too concerned with the wood splitting. If it did split then I would just have two tables :)For realsies though, the wood should be plenty strong to support lifting from an edge.

Thanks, Shawn. That is a great looking bench. I love the natural look of the maple.

Ha, thanks Austin, I literally just wrote this same response before I saw yours. Thank you for the compliments.

Excellent suggestion. The only concern is that even the minute thickness of the tack paper on the surface of the wood would raise it up from the form, which would then make the concrete and wood not flush. You could put the tack paper down across the whole bottom of the form though, or something of that sort. Thanks for the suggestion, I might have to try that if I do another similar project.

Thanks man, I appreciate the compliments.

Thanks Tyrone. I think hearing that it inspires others to build something is the greatest compliment there is. I know that sounds corny, but deal with it. :)